CHATTERTON, B.D.E. (1973):

COCKS, L.R.M. & LONG, S.L. (2001):

Brachiopods Past and Present. - 456 S., 150 Abb.,

Contents:Introduction. Apatite varieties in Recent and fossil linguloid brachiopod shells. Chemico-structural differentiation of the organocalcitic shells of rhynchonellate brachiopods. A TEM investigation of modulated microstructure in recent and fossil articulate brachiopod shells from New Zealand. The acrosome reaction of an Inarticulate Brachiopod Lingula Anatina spermatozoa. Brachiopod Larval Setae - a Key to the Phylum's Ancestral Life Cycle? Variation in the Loops of Two Recent Species

CRAME, J.M. & OWEN, .W. (2002):

The study of biodiversity through geological time provides important information for the understanding of diversity patterns at the present day. Hitherto, much effort has been paid to studying the mass extinctions of the Phanerozoic but the research emphasis has now changed to focus on what occurred between these spectacular catastrophic events. After the Cambrian 'explosion' of marine organisms with readily preservable skeletons, there have been two intervals when life radiated dramatically - the Ordovician Period, and the mid-Mesozoic-Cenozoic eras. These intervals saw a fundamental reoganization of biodiversity on a hierarchy of biogeographical scales. The size of these diversity increases and their probable causes are topics of intense debate, and there is an intriguing link between the dispersal of continents, changing climates and the proliferation of life.

Palaeobiogeography and Biodiversity Change: the Ordovician and Mesozoic-Cenozoic Radiations illustrates many aspects of the two great episodes of biotic radiation and shows how long periods of time and plate tectonic movements have a fundamental influence on the generation and maintenance of major extant biodiversity patterns.

Contents: Palaeobiogeography and the Ordovician and Mesozoic-Cenozoic biotic radiations • Brachiopods:Cambrian - Tremadoc precursors to Ordovician radiation events • Early Ordovician rhynchonelliformean brachiopod biodiversity: comparing some platforms, margins and intra-oceanic sites around the Iapetus Ocean • Diversification and biogeography of bivalves during the Ordovician Period • Phylogeny of the Reedocalymeninae (Trilobita): Implications for Early Ordovician Biogeography of Gondwana • The spatial and temporal diversification of Early Palaeozoic vertebrates • Euconodont diversity changes in a cooling and closing Iapetus Ocean • The role of pyroclastic volcanism in Ordovician diversification • The early evolution and palaeobiogeography of Mesozoic planktonic foraminifera • Opening of the Hispanic Corridor and Early Jurassic bivalve biodiversity • Cretaceous patterns of floristic change in the Antarctic Peninsula • Cenozoic palaeogeography and the rise of modern biodiversity patterns • Palaeontological databases for palaeobiogeography, palaeoecology and biodiversity: a question of scale • Integrating the present and past records of climate, biodiversity and biogeography: implications for palaeoecology and palaeoclimatology.

HANSEN, J. (2008):

Investigations of the brachiopod fauna from the Upper Ordovician Arnestad and Frognerkilen formations in the Oslo-Asker district of Norway have expanded the knowledge about the brachiopods occupying the western margin of Baltica during the Late Ordovician. The fauna comprises 57 species representing 15 linguliformean, 3 craniiformean and 28 rhynchonelliformean genera, including one new linguliformean genus, Osloella n. gen., and 15 new species representing all three subphyla. The inarticulate fauna in the studied interval generally shows affinities to the deeper part of the Floian Elkania-Acrotreta Community, which characterized offshore muddy environments in the Lower to Middle Ordovician of Bohemia. Though the taxonomic diversity is low to moderate, this inarticulate fauna comprises many ecological groups ranging from the dominant endobenthic to the epizoan lifestyle. The ecospace utilization of the rhynchonelliformean brachiopods is moderately diverse and strongly resembles that of older non-Baltic carbonate platforms. The most striking difference is the dominance of the liberosessile strophomenides, which appear to have diversified and expanded into more distal environments since Dapingian time. Changes in diversity and composition of brachiopod guilds and taxa suggest an overall shallowing in the Oslo-Asker district during the Haljala to Oandu. This shallowing resulted in a major influx of more shallow-water taxa and coincided with the main breakdown of provinciality between Baltica and Avalonia during the Keila. Statistical analyses suggest that though the taxa from Avalonia apparently first appeared in the east Baltic, a greater proportion of the Baltoscandian taxa occurring in the Oslo Region spread to Avalonia resulting in greater affinities between these two provinces than between Avalonia and the other parts of Baltica.

HARPER, C.W. (1973):

HARPER, D.A.T. & OWEN, A.W. (1996):

Fossils of the Upper Ordovician. 312 S., 52 Taf.,

This field guide describes the highlights of the very abundant and diverse upper Ordovician fauna which lived in a variety of sedimentary environments associated with the several distinct microcontinents and terranes in what are now Great Britain and Ireland. Three introductory chapters cover life in the late Ordovician, upper Ordovician stratigraphy and the environmental and tectonic settings of the main successions. A team of 14 experts has described and illustrated many of the key upper Ordovician fossils, ranging from the abundant brachiopods, trilobites and graptolites to the much less common, enigmatic cacichordates, in ten separate chapters. An extensive bibliography directs readers to relevant monographs and specialist papers. This pocket-size guide is an essential reference for those interested in the upper Ordovician of the region and will also be valuable for students of the European and North American Ordovician.

HOLLINGWORTH, N. / PETTIGREW, T. (1988):

Zechstein reef fossils and their palaeoecology. 75 S., 49 Abb.,

The Zechstein reefs of north-eastern England provide one of the few opportunities for collecting Permian fossils from British strata. This very reasonably priced volume illustrates the more common species and places them in community reconstructions as well as providing locality details.